Dragon Blade
The Dragon Call saw the Lunar Elf civilization razed to the ground, consumed by an inferno of dragon fire. Scattered to the wind, the Lunar Elves attempted to begin their lives anew as strangers among the other civilizations and peoples of Crystalia. For some however, the sorrow of their loss was too much to bear. Bitter tears became grim resolve to see the ruin brought upon the Lunar Elves returned to all dragonkind tenfold. Consumed by vengeance, the Dragon Blades were born. Dedicating their life to the destruction of all that is draconic, Dragon Blades are bleak individuals, driven by a single purpose to the exclusion of all else. Stats * Type: 'Elf Hero * '''Crystal Affinity: 'Citrine * 'Abilities: 'Immune: Fire, Dragon Spite * 'Unique Actions: 'Head Chopper, Dragon Slayer * 'Potions: 'Bottled Dragon Breath * '''Movement Points: 6 * Action Points: 3 * Strength: '''3B (Melee : 1) * '''Armor: 2B 1R (Defense) * Willpower: 3B * Dexterity: 3B * Hearts: 5 * Potion Quantity: 1 Gameplay Stats: The Dragon Blade has an average offense of 3B STR and high defense of 2B1R ARM. He is immune to Fire and has [[Dragon Spite|'Dragon Spite']], which allows him to reroll a single dice when making offensive actions against dragon, drake, or kobold models. Unlike most Elves, he has 6 movement instead of 7 on account of having high starting defense. Abilities: Head Chopper increases his offense to 3B1G STR (4 avg/10 max), which allows him to Blast high defense targets. Notably, it gives him access to roll potions on the Green dice. Until the Dragon Blade increases his offense, he may need to use Head Chopper to reliably wound monsters. Dragon Slayer is the reason you bring the Dragon Blade. If Dragon Slayer is successful and would wound a target, it will instead inflict a wound for every star the offense roll exceeds the defense roll. Dragon Slayer has very high potential in Classic where the Consul can potentially roll a very low defense roll compared to the Dragon Blade and thus eliminate strong monsters, including bosses, in a single action. Dragon Slayer is still powerful in Arcade since monsters do not have a defense roll and thus cannot counteract Dragon Slayer with a lucky defense roll. Finally, Dragon Slayer can eliminate spawn points with a high offense roll. Note that Dragon Slayer is currently assumed to stack with both Critical Success and Massive Damage (if there is some way to grant Massive Damage to this action sometime in the future). However, its additional wounds are negated by Sturdy. Before using Dragon Slayer to eliminate low defense monsters such as spawn points, consider whether the party would get more benefit out of the Dragon Blade using basic melee attacks to increase the chances to roll Hearts and Potions for the party. The Dragon Blade has the option to Tank due to his high starting defense and Fire immunity. If he's focused on defensive equipment, he has the option to inflict AOE and Blast, but his ability to use Dragon Slayer successfully may suffer. Potion: Bottled Dragon Breath gives the Dragon Blade's party access to a Dangerous melee Sweep 2 AOE that inflicts Fire. This can be used by the Dragon Blade to maintain Wrath in Arcade, but until he increases his offense, he may have trouble consistently hitting monsters. Notably, the Dragon Blade can use Bottled Dragon Breath and Dragon Slayer in a single activation to both Blast and AOE without the need for additional action points, but he cannot replenish potions or reliably hit with these attacks without increased offense. Although this attack is Dangerous, party members can use it and hit the Dragon Blade and he will be immune to the Fire and he has high defense that may also be able to defend from the attack in the first place. As it is a sweep attack, consider using Bottled Dragon Breath with large base STR heroes. Note that if the Dragon Blade uses Bottled Dragon Breath, his Dragon Spite will still allow him to reroll a dice. Strategy: '''The Dragon Blade is a defensive AOE Blaster Tank melee STR hero. He will typically use '''Bottled Dragon Breath for AOE once he has sufficient STR. Otherwise he will use Head Chopper on high defense targets and Dragon Slayer '''on multiple wound targets once he has sufficient STR. '''Equipment/Buffs: '''The Dragon Blade uses STR to increase his offense and ARM to increase his defense. He is very reliant on increasing STR to support Dragon Slayer, consistently hit with his AOE Bottled Dragon Breath, and generate potions without using Head Chopper. If used as a Tank, he will need to focus on ARM since he does not have much additional defensive abilities. Additional action points can allow him to use Head Chopper twice in an activation. If there are multiple STR heroes that can make use of his potion, consider increasing his potion capacity to give the party more AOE attacks. '''Limitations: '''The Dragon Blade's biggest drawback is his starting average 3B STR. In order to make the most of Dragon Slayer and Bottled Dragon Breath, he needs to focus on increasing offense, usually at least 2 equipment slots, but this is at odds at increasing defense if you want to use him to Tank. If you choose to use him as a Tank and focus on Defense, Head Chopper can allow him to reliably wound targets, but Dragon Slayer, one of his biggest strengths, may be too weak to use except on weak targets, which may be more reliable to defeat using AOE or basic attacks. The Dragon Blade is quite strong against kobolds, drakes, and dragons since they often utilize Fire, but he is not immune to Knockdown which is another status effect they often inflict, and he does not have the same defensive advantage when fighting alternate profiles that use Hubris and Ice instead of Fire. '''Party: The Dragon Blade can fill the STR Blaster, AOE, or Tank role assuming he receives sufficient equipment to increase his offense. He pairs well with other STR heroes that can utilize his potion. He also pairs well with heroes that can increase his offense. He will generally rely on other high offense heroes to defeat monsters early in the match until he's equipped to consistently deal wounds on his own. Dragon Slayer vs. Massive Damage: '''Dragon Slayer is compared to Massive Damage because most Massive Damage attacks also cost 3 AP and both attacks are designed to defeat multiple wound monsters. The exception is the Star Guild Sapper's POW!, which costs 2 AP. Dragon Slayer deals fewer wounds than Massive Damage if the attack succeeds by 1 star (1 vs 2 wounds), but the same number of wounds if it succeeds by 2 stars (2 wounds), and deals more wounds if it succeeds by 3 or more stars. However, most Massive Damage attacks also increase the hero's offense by 1R (1.17 avg/3 max) or 1G (2 avg/4 max), making Massive Damage attacks more likely to succeed. If we account for the increased offense, then the comparison then becomes (DS vs MD) DS fails by 2, MD succeeds by 1 (0 vs 2 wounds) DS fails by 1, MD succeeds by 2 (0 vs 2 wounds) DS succeeds by 1, MD succeeds by 3 (1 vs 2 wounds) DS succeeds by 2, MD succeeds by 4 (2 vs 2 wounds) DS succeeds by 3, MD succeeds by 5 (3 vs 2-3 wounds, but MD may qualify for Critical Success) DS succeeds by 4, MD succeeds by 6 (4 vs 2-3 wounds) MD is more consistent and easier to use to inflict 2 wounds due to increased offense and not being as reliant on increasing offense, but DS will outpace it on high offense rolls once the hero can consistently beat the defense roll by 4 (~2G) and rewards risky attacks and relying on rolling above average stars on offense and having below average stars on defense. Due to this, the Dragon Slayer has the more value over Massive Damage attacks when the Dragon Blade focuses on increasing his offense by at least 2G STR. '''Available Through Claws of the Wyrm WarbandCategory:Heroes Category:Claws of the Wyrm Warband __NOEDITSECTION__